GREENVILLE, N.C., (March 9, 2010) – Hyster Company recently began its fourth consecutive year of Invitation to Compare (ITC) events. The events continue to gain popularity with dealers and their customers, and the 2010 ITC events will focus on Hyster® trucks and three competitive electric sit-down rider lift trucks.

Hyster ITC events allow customers to experience in-person a side-by-side comparison of electric lift trucks from four leading manufacturers—Hyster Company, Caterpillar, Crown and Toyota. Attendees are able to compare the trucks to each other in a number of categories including speed, energy consumption, ergonomics and overall value. On-site engineers perform live evaluations of each product, while members of the audience evaluate each truck based on its productivity, uptime and value characteristics.

“Continuing to deal with very difficult economic times, materials handling customers obviously want to make the best purchase for their money,” said Brett Schemerhorn, vice president of sales, Hyster Company. “The Hyster ITC events give these customers the opportunity to evaluate which lift truck best suits their needs, so they can get the most out of their lift truck purchases.”

The events began the week of March 1 and will run through October, making at least 24 stops in Calif., Ore., Wash., Ariz., Texas, Fla., S.C., Tenn., Va., Penn., Ohio, Ind., Wisc. and Ill., as well as stops in Quebec and Ontario, Canada. The Hyster web site includes the most up-to-date calendar of the events.